His smile was like sunshine, but Nelson Mandela was made of steel. It was his strength of character, repeatedly tested throughout his long and impossibly full life, that made him one of the towering political figures of our time.

Plea bargaining or persuading criminals to snitch on their associates—a tactic frowned upon by international legal experts—is widely used in the U.S. police and legal system. Over the last year or so, however, a trickle of information about the other secret program has come to light, and it opens an astonishing new window into the privatization of U.S. intelligence.

Over the past 50 years, the city of Los Angeles has made great strides to curb its smog problems by cutting vehicle emissions. But now, the emerging “fracking” industry threatens to undo much of that progress by wantonly spewing toxic chemicals into the air.

The relentless activity of thoughtlessness—worship of celebrity culture, a cravenly mainstream media, instrumentalism, militarism or free-roaming individualism—undermines crucial social bonds and expands the alleged virtue of believing that thinking is a burden.

The debate over the Affordable Care Act can stay small, focusing on website failures and other short-term difficulties facing the law. Or it can get bigger, with wider insurance coverage seen as part of a larger struggle for social justice in a nation growing steadily less equal.